Erosion work at Seven Falls gets court's approval

A Superior Court judge granted Henderson County’s request Monday to use an additional $150,326 in bond money toward fixing erosion problems at the defunct Seven Falls development in Etowah.

By Nathaniel AxtellTimes-News Staff Writer

A Superior Court judge granted Henderson County’s request Monday to use an additional $150,326 in bond money toward fixing erosion problems at the defunct Seven Falls development in Etowah.Judge W. Erwin Spainhour approved an order allowing the county to use up to $410,686 from $6 million in bond proceeds set aside for installation of roads, water and sewer within Seven Falls.In early May, another Superior Court judge had given the county permission to use up to $260,360 in bond proceeds to perform remediation work at the idled golfing community. Judge Zoro Guice’s order required the county to return July 15 for a status update and to request more funding if necessary.Since then, surveys by the county’s consulting engineer, William Lapsley, expanded the scope of work necessary at Seven Falls. Lapsley told contractors at a meeting July 3 that he thought work to re-grade roads, clean out clogged sediment basins and install new silt traps and fences would run around $475,000.On July 10, the county received a low bid of $346,881 from contractor Thunder Disaster Services Inc. of Waynesville. The company primarily does contract work for the Federal Emergency Management Agency following major disasters, County Attorney Russ Burrell told Spainhour.“But in between major disasters, they do little disasters,” Burrell said. “And when they want to buy a bid low, they can. We’re not upset about this fact.”County commissioners are expected to approve the company’s low bid Wednesday, which was $191,734 less than the next nearest bidder’s, Miller Brothers Inc. Seven contractors bid on the site stabilization at Seven Falls, with an average bid of $839,158.Besides $134,071 in additional funds for erosion fixes at Seven Falls, the county’s request to Spainhour included $6,469 more in contingency funds and $8,031 more in engineering costs than originally proposed. Mapping fees in the amount of $13,500 did not change from the original motion in May.Among its recent projects, Thunder Disaster Services lists on its website work such as tornado clean-up in Joplin, Mo., flood debris removal in North Dakota and remediation in the aftermath of 2011’s Hurricane Irene in Virginia and North Carolina. Normally, Burrell told Spainhour, “Henderson County’s own soil and erosion program would permit this, but we can’t permit ourselves.” So instead, Burrell said the N.C. Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources will permit the site stabilization work, at a cost of $1,755.Even though the construction work will be bonded, Burrell said roughly $27,700 in contingency is built into the project because of potential costs of maintaining sediment traps and basins until grass is established on bare soil. “When the grass is growing, the erosion problem basically stops,” Burrell said. “But if we have a season like we have where perhaps there’s excess rain... Obviously, if the (contingency) money is not needed for that, it will not be spent and it will be available for the rest of this project as we go forward.”Developer Keith Vinson told Spainhour that his company, Seven Falls LLC, “100 percent concurs with what the county has put forth. We have worked with Mr. Burrell through the process and have given them the ability to access the needed property to accomplish this work. And we hope the court would approve this today so they can move forward.”After commissioners choose a contractor Wednesday, Burrell said he’ll send out letters to all Seven Falls lot owners, advising them of upcoming construction. With erosion hopefully under control by fall, Burrell said that buys the county some time to address the second part of their lawsuit against Seven Falls developers, lot owners and lien holders. He plans to give defendants in the case until late winter to persuade a court to follow whatever course of action they think will address infrastructure needs at Seven Falls. Burrell said whatever is proposed must “to every reasonable extent, treat lot owners alike,” obtain proper permitting from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and N.C. DENR, and address the required infrastructure covered by the original bond: roads, water, sewer and other utilities promised to buyers by developers.“If they persuade the court, great,” Burrell said. “The county’s perspective has never been to impose a solution on these folks. This is a chance for them to advocate their best solution before the court. If there’s not one by the end of winter, we’ll devise a plan (to spend $5.5 million in remaining bond proceeds) that probably no one will like.”A judge would have to sign off on whatever plan is proposed, whether the county’s or property owners’, Burrell said. Reach Axtell at 828-694-7860 or than.axtell@blueridgenow.com.